Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion of Gallifrey
by Hamfast Gamgee
Summary: A story where the Timelords are not destroyed. So the Doctor has to save them! From an invasion by Autons. Please read and review, thanks Ham.
1. Chapter 1

Doctor Who and the Auton invasion of Gallifrey

In this one, lets pretend that Gallifrey is not destroyed in NuWho. It would be interesting to see how this would effect the Doctor's personality seen as he often refers himself as the last of the Timelords in the series. And also it gives me an excuse to set an adventure on Gallifrey. I do have an oc as a companion of his I am afraid, but only one. I have a few in Gallifrey, but I think I am allowed as practically all of the Doctor's adventures have someone new in them. Please Read and Review, thanks, Ham.

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In Gallifrey, a time-lady was looking at a console. Which was showing space-debris around her planet and helping to assess action of what to do with any that came close to the planet's surface. Though, to be honest, the job was dull, but sometimes necessary. The Time-lady's name was officially unpronounceable for all who weren't time lords, and for more than a few that were! But she was mostly known by the shortened name of Skucksonan or Susan as even Time Lords don't like too much of a mouthful when it comes to names.

Susan was 500 years old. For some species this might be considered old. She did have grey hair and lines on her face and appeared at least beyond the first flush of youth. But for a Time Lady she was actually young. Only in her first incarnation. And as Time-Lords have 13 she could expect to live for a few centuries, millenia even yet. She was wearing a brightly coloured green and orange dress. She was squinting at the PC screen and trying to concentrate though her routine task.

She was using the PC to track a UFO which was entering Gallifrey space. It was a small craft, it shouldn't do much damage. Gallifrey happened to be in an area of space which had plenty of space debris and rocks often hit the surface. This one looked like it was going to do so. She might have to enter a warning to were the thing looked like it was going to land, even though the odds of it hitting anyone living was small. It was more likely to cause material damage if anything. Though this was seemed a strange vessel which did not respond to any hails from Gallifrey. It had been spotted the previous week and now it was Susan's turn to monitor it. It was an odd ship. Some reports said it was showing signs of splitting up, objects that entered Gallifrey space often did. Looking at it closely, Susan agreed with this assessment. Susan thought she would check in the databanks to see if anything was known of a ship with this design.

It turned out that there was. The ship was identified as been of the Nestene conscience or Autons. But that was all. There was absolutely nothing else known about them. Still, despite been the most knowledgeable species in the Galaxy, there was still much the time lords did not know. The other thing she noticed was that they were cross-referenced with someone called the Doctor. That made her smile. She vaguely knew of the Doctor, but as a madcap exiled Timelord. All in all, that wasn't really much to go on.

A few days later, however, it was a different story. Susan was in a crisis meeting. The ship had landed and had broken up with its sections landing in the northern Hansard forests of Leinster, the capitol region of Gallifrey were Susan was based. But in that region a series of unexplained and mysterious attacks had occured. Even causing casualties. Though it was of no threat to the structure of Gallifrey, Susan was assured, some unlucky Timelords could be killed so itwas a matter of concern. Changing the structure of Gallifrey wasn't very likely as Gallifrey was the most powerful and advanced planet in the Galaxy as it was known.

Susan was met that morning by her superior the head of the scientific galactic research, one Mr. Brian Edwards. He was explaining to her the serious nature of the situation. They began to sit down on a bench in one of Gallifreys famed tunnels, but Susan said, 'It's so stuffy here, shall we go outside?' so they stepped out on pretty cobbled streets. Many young people were around riding bikes, the sun shone high and warm though this wasn't likely to last today. Mr. Edwards explained.

'You might have heard that there was a major incident on the power station of Hansard. An explosion and many men were killed. The trouble is the cause is something of a mystery. We think that that ship or any occupants it might have had could be involved in some way.'

'Even mysterious to us?' Susan asked. Mysteries on Gallifrey with all of its power were very rare.

'Even so. There was a bomb, but there was no way it should have done the intense damage that happened to the base. The explosion and fire that occurred were far in excess of the effect the explosion that happened. Plus there have been other mysterious events around that area. Much of it has been restricted to the public and the militia have been called. But that has in itself created problems. Some of them have seen dangerous people, when they apprehended them, there was no satisfactory response, indeed the militia were fired upon. The Enemy were very hard to destroy. Even direct hits with Timeblasters did not kill them. Which makes us think they are alien, Autons perhaps and very dangerous. So I am calling a meeting. Some of the security forces will be present. The Castalian and Romana. As someone that has seen the ship you will be there as well. Also, we have called in a Timelord who has experience of the Autons, he might be able to help, one called The Doctor!'

'The Doctor!' Susan exclaimed in surprise. 'But he's such an unusual Timelord. And an exile. Even on his own submission. Will he even come if you ask him?'

'News for you then! The Doctor is here. He will be at the meeting with a couple of his companions,' Susan finished her slimtea. A refreshing drink which the Timelords had perfected. Imported all the way from the planet Cylon. A good say to start the morning, especially with this mystery on hand. She had been aware of the attack on the power plant but had not been told the whole story, the security council were playing things close to their chest. But then they hadn't yet found the ship that had crashed. Still, the Hansard forests were a big place, it would take a while to search it.

So, Susan entered the impressive chamber of stone and modern glass which hosted the major meetings of the security council. She sat down on one of the soft chairs around the table with several other major figures. In fact she was one of the junior figures present. She recognized Romana from the CIA, Celestrial Intelligiance Agency, her boss Mr. Edwards and the Castalian the head of the TimeLord militia. Mr. Edwards said, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce, The Doctor!'

Susan took her first look at the Doctor. He did seem a strange man and she initally wondered who such an eccentric traveller could actually help such powerful Timelords. The Doctor looked younger than Susan, but in fact he was considerably older and had used up many more incarnations than Susan had. Still, he had travelled in dangerous places around the Universe and this could happen. He did stand up and gave everyone a charming smile. 'Good morning. Nice to be back home again. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was due for a shave back on Earth, Gallifrey barbers just aren't the same you know. And I do like to hang around on Earth. You never know when that planet is going to need me. I'm sure I heard rumours that the Daleks might be around.'

Susan looked at a girl that was the Doctor's companion, name of Martha. Martha was from Earth and did not look too pleased by the Doctor's statements. But Romana coughed and said, 'Doctor, I am all too aware of your love of that particular planet. We are pleased you could spare us some of your valuable time. To fill you in, we have had trouble with Autons. A number of fatalities even, quite unprecedented on Gallifrey itself and Autons themselves are a complete mystery. I don't like mysteries. Still, you do. Could you help us before more TimeLords die?'

The Doctor's became very serious. 'Autons, you're communique mentioned this. And fatalities. Yes, you were right to call me. Perhaps I could help. Although...' The Doctor slapped his forehead, 'Autons. This is a blast from the past. And with my memory probably the oddest of the TimeLords. I have only encountered them once recently and that was in a weakened format. I haven't encountered them probably for around 7 incarnations. You know how sometimes it is hard remembering details from previous incarnations.'

'He must have a very odd memory,' muttered Susan quietly.

'Well, you try waking up in Victorian England on Earth, you memory wiped by a Gallifreyean mind-probe used rather too vigorously to get information on Daleks, spending years on the streets there, friendless, hungry, scared, only ever one step away from a mental asylum and getting back all of your memories straight,' replied the Doctor huffily as he had heard her mutter perfectly! 'And going through the Sixties twice!' he finished with a smile. Not many of the Timelords on the table understood him, though Susan noticed Martha smiling. So the Doctor continued.

'Now, then, what do I remember about Autons? Now, then, if you have Autons, you will have the Nestene conscience somewhere. Very nasty creature, especially if provoked. Sees itself as superior and has little feelings for other species. The Nestenes control the Autons. It's a bit of a complex relationship, but the Autons don't actually have a will of their own, they are powered by the Nestene. Also, the Autons are extremely tough, even for Timelords I note. But the major thing is that they control anything plastic. It's their main form of attack. Watch anything plastic you have, it could be fatal with Autons around,'

This statement was treated with some derision. 'What, all plastic,' said Romana,

'Yes,' said the Doctor.

'Plastic wires,' asked Mr. Edwards,

'Yes,' said the Doctor a little grumply.

'The plastic in our computers,' said someone else.

'Yes, all plastic, anything plastic,' the Doctor sighed.

Susan smiled and held up her hand, 'When the Doctor says all plastic, I think we can take him to mean all plastic,'

'Well, done, Susan is it?' The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully. 'Nice to have someone paying attention to me. Just because you lot are one of the most powerful species in the Galaxy,' he didn't include himself as part of this. Well, technically speaking he was by birth, not totally by blood, but he had lived such a different life than the vast majority of his fellow Timelords that he barely recognized them as the same species nowadays. 'You still have to listen. Don't get too proud,' he warned and finished his glass of water in a gulp. But looking around, he wasn't sure if he was getting through to people.

Romana then came up with a point. She held up her hand and wondered aloud. 'One thing about these Autons. What do they want from us exactly?'

'They want to invade, obviously,' said Martha,

'Yes, but why us? Why Gallifrey a target? Of all the planets in the Galaxy to choose from. They have a cheek for one thing. Gallifrey is the most powerful and invulnerable planet in the entire Galaxy. We have lived in peace and growing prosperity for centuries, Millenia even. How can one little Nestene in one ship even think of taking us on and getting away with it? They must know it will be extremely dangerous for them.' Romana paused thoughtfully, although she was the only one to consider this question, not even the Doctor.

'Can't think why Gallifrey in particular have been chosen,' he commented, 'Though it could be an interesting question. What do the Timelords have that anyone else in the Galaxy doesn't,' The Doctor paused, 'Not sure. But there is one thing you all should consider. They are a very dangerous species. You obviously have been targeted. These creatures don't do anything by halves, in fact, looking at it,' The Doctor looked around and his face became very serious, 'I think that Gallifrey is facing one of its worst crisis for centuries!'


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Doctor and a group of others were watching quite a spectacular film on a console near the Tardis of the power station Zeebra exploding. The station collapsed in a ball of flame, smoke and falling debris with considerable destruction. Especially for one bomb. Although looking at it, the Doctor thought that there was something odd happening but couldn't quite place what it was. Martha did, 'You know what it looks like to me. It looks like the building is starting to shake before the explosion takes place. Something wrong with the camera?' asked Martha.

'No, you are right.' The Doctor froze the camera and zoomed in on some details and moved on frame, by frame closely. 'Yes, those pipes are moving before the explosion. That explains some of the damage.' Especially the fusion rupture. Well, that was caused by the pressure of the building collapsing which was caused by itself as much as the bomb. Someone was controlling the structure with devastating effect!'

'How? The Autons?' asked the Castallin. The Castallin and the Doctor had met before. On the Doctor's first visit to Gallifrey after a long exile in the Doctor's 4th incarnation. The Castallin had regenerated as well, but only the one time.

'The Autons definitely. And how, by controlling the plastic in the building. You have plenty in there. The place didn't stand a chance. Plastic, plastic, plastic. Remember that the Nestenes control anything plastic. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they have a facsimile in place there. That's another common tactic of theirs. Coffee, thanks, Dan,' said the Doctor as one of his companions, a young man called Dan, handed him a mug. The last of the Earth stuff as it happened from a tin in the Tardis. 'In fact, I think we need to take a little trip to that power station. I would like to see things for myself.'

'That's good. I'd like to see more of this home planet of yours,' said Dan cheerfully.

'Ah, not in your case, I'm afraid,' replied the Doctor. 'I have a little job for you. But the type of thing that you enjoy. Here,' The Doctor handed Dan a datadisk. 'In here there is information on a lot of my old adventures. Most of which I have forgotten. They were in past incarnations a long time ago. But at the time I did make notes on them. Or other people did at least. I was going to categorize them, but sadly I forgot to do that as well. But I am sure I encountered them before. I want you to see if you can find any references and if they have any weaknesses we can exploit. Feel free to drink Tea if you want to!'

'Tea, I think I might have a glass of beer, but not too many,' said Dan with a cheeky wave and with his dark, wavy hair and jeans and shirt, slipped inside the Doctor's Tardis.

Then the Doctor sat back with a sigh, 'That should keep him busy! I will be as well soon, but still... it is nice to be back home for a while. The red, red, grass of Gallifrey!' Gallifrey was famed for having fields and fields of tall, bright, red grass. It also had lush, dark purple trees. And peculiar purple sheep which climbed and lived in their branches. 'I didn't think I would be back for a while. Not after that incident upon Sirius. Very nasty. And more than a bit embarrassing. But it seems a common enemy has thrown us together,'

'Its a strange thing,' said Martha, 'But I could swear you said you home planet had been destroyed!

The Castallin laughed, 'Not much chance of that,'

'Don't be too sure on this occasion,' said the Doctor looking at him with a glare. 'But no, I think you must have heard me say that relations between myself and Gallifrey were destroyed. Irreparably, I thought. But if they need me, they need me. I wouldn't say that I was a patriot but it's nice to be needed. And now... I think it's time to take a trip to that power station. Shouldn't take too long, should it with our fast transport system. Let's go,' The Doctor sat up and marched off, followed by Martha, the Castallin and Susan.

The power station, Zeebra was out of action when the Doctor came to it. It was also a bit of a mess, to say bomb site would be about accurate. There was debris throughout, a big hole in its walls and much of the windows had been smashed in the explosion. Smoke still rose out of some of the fallen and twisted metal that was strewn across the ground. Many experts were working on the site. The Doctor had a chat with the chief of security that was present. He was given useful information, then he moved to the site itself, seeing were the explosion had taken place, looking at things closely, analysing what he saw with his sonic screwdriver. He frowned at the results of this information.

'That looks like a useful device, were on Gallifrey did you make it?' Asked Susan of his sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor sighed. He did find the Gallifreyean assumption that anything of technological worth had to be made by Timelords to be rather an irritating trait of them. 'This was not made on Gallifrey sweetheart. All right, maybe the basic design was, but I have made rather a few modifications myself. You wouldn't find something like this on this world.' The Doctor took a look at the device. 'And now it is telling me information. I can see the subtle residue signature. Quite a lot, this stuff will be good to trace to other signs of Autons. Plus I can see that there has been deliberate sabotage. Strange that no-one noticed this happening. Unless...

The Doctor turned and asked the Castallin, 'You said that there was something odd about the head of this station?'

'Yes, odd behaviour. We are actually holding him. He has a rather unbelievable story. Also, he was seen near the Neutron pipes. Just before they exploded. Some assume he was checking them, yet it apparently is not his normal area of expertise. And he was supposed to be in a meeting at the time. But he claims to be elsewhere, well, its all rather strange,' said the Castallin, looking at some data about the events at the power station after the explosion.

'All the more reason to see him!'

Stevens was a rather fussy, little, bald and unimaginative manager of the station. But the Doctor was glad he had interviewed the manager. Stevens needed his job and even liked it at times and had no reason to sabotage the plant. And he certainly wasn't the type to resort to such matters anyway, the Doctor thought. And he had a strange tale to tell. 'I was just on my way home, across the bank of the Lake here, When I was hailed by someone. No-one I recognized, but he pointed a light at me. I don't know what happened, but I seemed to hear a voice in my head ordering me to move. Normally, I would tell such a command where to go, but this time, I just couldn't fight it. I felt a searing pain in my chest and I lost conscience.'

'Then when I woke up I was in a strange place indeed. Full of plastic, some people, I assumed, but not talking. They made Fred, my security guard well known as the strong and silent type appear chatty. But I was kept in tight bounds and unable to escape. I didn't know at the time for sure, but I felt I was underground, it was hot with little light. Something kept pricking into me, it felt a little like been in hospital. I was unaware of time but I was more scared than hungry. I think I must have been tube feed with something.'

'As I say, how long I was there for I don't know. But one time I woke up and my bounds were free. Why, I don't know, but also I was alone. I wriggled out of my bounds and saw an exit and made for it. Just as I escaped, I heard a blast from a ray-gun from way behind me. It was night when I left, but I thought I just recognized were I was. I ran, in my condition, from there all the way to my home and contacted security. Only to find that I had apparently been here anyway and my power station had been blown up in my absence. Strangely, no one will believe my story. What do you think, am I going mad?'_  
_

The Doctor patted Stevens shoulder. 'Not at all. In fact your tale makes sense to me. Once I get some information I will explain things to you, it will only be fair.' The Doctor strongly suspected that the Autons had made a facemile of poor Dr Stevens which explained the confusion. To do this, the Autons often kept the original alive so that further copies could be made if necessary. Stevens had been lucky to get out, however.

Martha rushed into the office. 'Doctor, there's a Dr Stevens on the base's perimeter. He says he's looking for you, oh, that was quick,' said she seeing Dr Stevens.

'A bit too quick,' smiled the Doctor. 'One minute,' he walked outside, making sure that his sonic screwdriver was safely in his pocket. Walking across the planks and mud of the grounds, The Doctor met with Dr Stevens, or at least someone that looked just like him. The Doctor walked towards this Dr Stevens and raised his hand. 'Ah, Dr Stevens,' coughed he for want of a name. But his conversation this time was quite different. 'I wonder if we could have a chat. You have caused quite a stir here. But I wonder if you are aware of whom you are dealing with. This is Gallifrey. The Timelords are the most advanced technological race in the Galaxy. They have more than you might know. Why don't you negotiate? Say what you want, in peace and we will sort out something.'

Brave words. Unfortunately the creature, or its Nestenes master with whom the Doctor was trying to negotiate with wasn't impressed. It stared at the Doctor for a while with unblinking eyes. Stevens raised one of his hands. Hands which had no fingernails or lines! It fell away to reveal a squat, plastic cylinder. Out of it he fired a blast of deadly heat at the Doctor. It nearly hit. The Doctor realized his peril at he last moment and sprang away, behind a plank of fallen wood.

The Doctor then held up his sonic screwdriver and fired it at Stevens. Dr Stevens, or rather the Nestene facsimile of him, crumpled to the floor, lifeless, though it was never really alive. The real Dr Stevens felt a twitch at the end of his facsimile back at the shed, but that was it. The Doctor looked at the device, thinking hard upon his next move. 'Doctor, are you all right, I heard shots,' said Martha, rushing up to him.

'Yes, I am fine now,' the Doctor replied. 'But I need to make a move. Thanks to Dr Stevens, not this one, the real one, I have some information on the whereabouts of the Nestene. I need to do a little work to find out the exact location. I need to go to the Eversham lake to see. Fancy accompanying me?' Martha was happy to agree. 'Oh, and I'd better tell Stevens about his doppelgänger. And there are bound to have been others,' The Doctor and Martha stepped into a motor vehicle that was parked nearby.

Before he left, he was approached by the Castallin. 'There you are, neat work on that Auton,'

'Thank you, I try my best. I did try talking to them, but I don't think they are in much of a mood to negotiate.'

'No matter, if we see them, we will blast them,' said a Major of the guard.

The Doctor sighed. It was strange, he thought that were ever he went in the Universe, even back home, the basic attitude of the military mind was much the same. 'Find your target, then. And then, if you hit it with anything less than a full blown Nuclear device it will have defenses. And it is carefully hidden amongst some tunnels underground if the information I have is right. They aren't stupid you know. But I have an idea of were to find them, what in space is that thing?'

The Castallin handed the Doctor a small, plastic, device. A Gallifreyean mobile connection device. A bit like a mobile phone but rather more sophisticated. It was also rather outlandish , brithtly coloured with wires hanging out from it. 'That must be one of the ugliest things I have ever seen in my life! That is not part of a major line, surely!' The Doctor himself had little use for such things, but he had found that his companions often did as a way of keeping in touch with home.

'Well, no these are not for sale, it's fairly new for the security services. It has some special features, hence the signaling system,' the Castallin explained. The Doctor looked at it, shook his head and threw it into the vehicle. With a farewell wave, he and Martha set of on the short journey to the caves were Stevens had said the Nestene was near.

The Doctor drove for around 5 miles. He parked the vehicle near the shores of a lake with green water and he and Martha embarked. The Doctor put up his sonic screwdriver and listened for a signal, 'Ok, I have a signal that matches the Nestene base around this area ahead of us to the left. But I need a more precise definition. Some kind of relay. That mountain should do it, aaaa,' The Doctor waved his screwdriver around a bit. 'Can I borrow your phone for a minute, Martha I need to do a little calculation, thank you, now lets see the descent was this, the distance is thus, the angle so much,' the Doctor waved his Screwdriver a bit more, 'There we are, I reckon in some caves around a mile or so distance, come on!'

The Doctor and Martha walked on until they came to a group of caves. The screwdriver was beeping like a mobile phone on an automatic PPI call system. On one of the caves were a couple of people on guard duty. Not speaking and with very rough features, Martha thought. The Doctor again looked at his screwdriver, 'Autons,' he whispered at her. They avoided those two but the relief didn't last long. Just after they stepped into the dark, rocky caves - grey rock as it happened - one other Auton stepped out and raised a gun at them. The Doctor deactivated it with the Screwdriver. Martha had been given a timeblaster as she did have a good aim.

Other Autons were avoided as they crept in quietly. Martha had a sense of going upwards in the tunnels. They then came to a cavern. In it was a strange, but dangerous creature. The Nestene itself. It looked, Martha thought, rather like a Martian from one of the old fifties Sci-fi films. The size of a bear, green and orange, with octopus like tentacles pointing high. It was not very mobile but it did have control of the Autons by the power of its mind. The Doctor sighed, he came into sight, deactivating on Auton guard and spoke to the creature.

'Hello,' he said for want of a better word. 'I will try again. This is Galllifrey, one of the major worlds in the Galaxy. You are on you're own. I don't know what your plan is, but such aggressive actions as you have taken will only backfire upon you. Or at the very least taking on such a powerful world is a very risky venture for anyone. Why don't you take the sensible option and negotiate? Call off your Autons, retreat and try saying what you want.' The Doctor looked. He felt that he had a reply from it.

The reply was...'NOOOOO,' responded by a blast of light energy from the Nestene. The Doctor shrugged. Slowly, and reluctantly he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, in an instant got a good aim and fired at the thing.

And... Nothing happened. Nothing at all. The Nestene was surrounded by some kind of electric force-field and even the Doctor's sonic screwdriver couldn't get through it. the Nestene fired again at the Doctor's hand causing his sonic screwdriver to fly out behind him. The Doctor looked cautiously at it. 'Well, I suppose that's evolution,' he commented as last time he had tried that, the Screwdriver had caused a Nestene to explode. He looked around, some Autons were now walking slowly towards him to defend their host.

As did Martha, given him back his Screwdriver. 'Here,'

'Thanks, Martha, but I'm afraid that thing is invincible to this,' said the Doctor indicating the Nestene.

The Autons marched slowly in, too many for the Doctor and Martha to take out, though they seemed reluctant to fire near their host But they were strong enough to rip the Doctor and Martha apart. They backed away. Martha said, a note of panic in her voice, 'So, I take it we are surrounded by one of the most dangerous alien creatures in the Galaxy and to top it your normal get out of jail free card,' commenting upon the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and his frequent use of it, 'Doesn't work'

'A rather accurate summing up of our situation,' said the Doctor.

'So, what do we do?' asked Martha as the Autons now moved them away and were aiming to fire the last blast...


	3. Chapter 3

Doctor Who and the Auton invasion of Gallifrey

Part 3 of this tale about an Auton attack on Gallifrey itself which in this case assumes that Gallifrey was never destroyed in NuWho. However, this means that it is now under a serious assault by the Nestenes with their Auton facemiles. To make matters more complex for the Doctor, he has just found out that the Nestene creature is not destroyed by his Sonic screwdriver! It has evolved to survive it. And now he and Martha are surrounded by Autons about to blast them! Please R and R, Ham!

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The Doctor took a quick look at the approaching Autons. He replied to Martha, 'When I say run, run! Run!' and with a sharp turn of speed dodged through the Autons. They ran on but Martha had the feeling that they were travelling up in the caves. They were followed by Autons that occasionally blasted at them. After a while, they came to a window in the caves. Martha looked down, her impression of going up had been correct, they were standing on the edge of a drop down to the lake nearly fifty feet below. He looked back, the Autons were still relentlessly pursuing.

'Fancy a Swim?' he asked Martha.

'And a dive!' she said. Fortunately she was adapt in water though she wished that she had bought more water-adapt outfit than what she was wearing, jeans and tea-shirt and jacket. 'Come on, then,' she suggested and the both of them leapt out of the caves and down into the lake and swam on as the Autons fired behind them, splashing the water with their rays. Martha and the Doctor swam for over a mile, once been fired on by an Auton on the edge of the lake, back to their motor vehicle which they sprang into and the Doctor drove away.

Though he did hold up his Sonic Screwdriver which was dripping wet after the swim.

'What's the matter with that?' Martha asked him.

'Water's got into it I'm afraid. It doesn't work. Oh, well,' The Doctor drove on.

The Doctor and Martha drove back to the Tardis. There they gathered some of the Gallifrey secret security council to them. The Castallin said, 'Well done Doctor nice work. Now we know where that chief Auton is. We will hit it with everything we have. I think we should make short work of that.'

'Be careful,' counselled the Doctor. 'That thing is tougher than you might think. It is well hidden and guarded in those caves. With special defences,' he told them of the force-field around the Nestene. 'Andrommedas won't work directly on it. Neither will most of the weapons you have. In fact, to have any effect you can't use anything less than a nuclear missile. And then it will take half of Gallifrey's store to worry the thing. Plus it does now have a network of Autons and they are growing. Powerful things as you well know. Still I expect you will launch an attack.'

'Your points are noted Doctor, and you are right we will be attacking soon,' The Castallin looked at a hand-shaped computer he was carrying. It contained data of what security forces could be available, 'We will have a strong as force as we can. We will strengthen the cordon around the lake. Also, there has been other activity,' the Doctor looked up interested, 'Around the timevaults. Seems that an Auton has been seen around there. I wonder why?' The Castallin frowned.

'The timevaults. There's quite a lot of material in those tunnels. Plus some things from the Rassilon era. In the old days that was were they held the timegames. And were our old friend and your former boss Borussa spends his days, such as they are the poor chap. Yes, I know he had his moments and it was partly his own fault but I am still not sure that he deserved his current fate,' The Doctor was referring to the former head of the CIA and his former teacher and mentor in fact.

'Yes, it is a quite sad and revealing case. I often think we ought to do something for them but... they did ask for immortality after all. And we don't want to interfere with the Rassilon devices too much. It can be dangerous. But those people are one of the few who might actually benefit from the destruction of timelord civilization! But to business, I need to get hold of Romana, we have to authorize a major assault. We will need to call some of the regular troops from the moonbase, hold on, who's this?'

Dan had just run in dressed in full running gear and rather sweaty and smelly. 'Taking exercise Dan?' the Doctor smiled at his assistant.

'Afraid so. I've been staring at that console of yours for a while. I tried printing pages off in order to spare my eyes, but your printer ran out of toner and I can't find anything compatible here. I've read lots of your old adventures though. I have even read one tale of an Auton one. Although in that one you didn't do much more than just stop one getting to Earth. I couldn't find any weakness. Save don't trust plastic flower selling people! Though that Jo Grant was quite nice your former assistant. I would quite like to ...'

The Doctor interrupted, 'Yes, I'm sure you would. Mind, she was a favorite assistant of mine for some time. You should show some respect. Plus she was with me around 30 of years ago in my time, I would say, she now would be old enough to be your grandmother! Well, get back onto it keep me informed of anything you find,' said he as Dan dashed back inside the Tardis. 'Actually, I don't think I will be joining your assault for now. Just bear in mind what I say. I think I'll take a little trip to the timevaults.'

In the timevaults was one Trevor. He was vaultengineer grade7. It sounded dramatic and exciting working in the timevaults, but it wasn't really it was quite a repetitive and boring job. And he wasn't happy. Trevor liked things straight and tidy in his job. He was of a methodical mind and he liked it that way. Recently there had been some rather annoying changes. Staff had been moved out, some of the equipment had been altered and the department was been investigated. subtly, but it was. He himself had been interviewed by a Government bigwig. He got more information than the interviewer did. There seemed to be some kind of major crisis going on. This type of thing made Trevor nervous. Also his boss was been more annoying than normal and even contradictory. This sort of thing made Trevor annoyed, so he demanded a meeting as an explanation.

The meeting was to take place at around midday. So, he knocked on the boss's door and entered. What Trevor was expecting was either a ticking of or some kind of explanation as to the recent changes. What he actually got was quite extraordinary. His boss was a small, bald man. He smiled at Trevor. 'You don't think much of my changes, do you? Well, there are going to be changes in this department. Big things are happening. You could be a part of it. I can offer you promotion. More power, you can reverse the changes or make some of your own. If you would do me one small favour,'

Someone a bit brighter than Trevor might have found something suspicious about this. But Trevor wasn't aware of anything unusual until it smacked straight into him. 'What type of favour?' he asked.

'You remember that woman who interviewed you earlier this week? She is a major threat to what we are trying to achieve and to the Nestene conscience.' What a strange thing to say! 'I want you to eliminate her.' Trevor looked blank as though he hadn't registered what his boss was asking, 'Kill her,' the boss sighed, 'I can supply you with a Andrommeda. You know her now, you can perform this little task for me for all your rewards,' but Trevor was not a killer. He was about to reject the request when the boss added, 'And if you don't, these two will want a word,' opening the door and entering in...

Back near the Tardis, Susan and Dan were having the last of the store of tea. It was refreshing for him, but Dan was forlorn and a bit frustrated. He was wondering why the Doctor had given him such a task and said as much. 'The Doctor tells me that he has encountered the Autons before. But the notes of his are in such a haphazard order. And for someone with such advanced technology in some ways, his actual processor is pretty rubbish. I can't even do a proper word-search upon it! Must have a word with him about it. He gives no hints or categorization of were his adventures might have taken place,'

Susan took a sip of tea, 'Maybe he doesn't know himself.'

'And then I get one adventure which took me hours to decipher. I thought it quite dramatic and it seemed to contain hints to the information the Doctor wanted. And just as it got good, it turned out to be in another dimension. What a waste of time! I do wonder what good I am doing here. In the meantime, the Doctor and Martha are out having fun gallivanting about the place. Although they did have quite a close encounter I hear. Be interesting to see how the Doctor copes without that screwdriver of his. Oh, hello!'

Trevor had entered the room. But he didn't look well. 'You told me to come to see you if I could give you further help in your Auton investigation, I can,' he said, though Dan thought that Trevor was the one who was in need of help. He looked terrible, sweating, trembling and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He also seemed to be a pretty much Mr. Average, short, bald and distinctly unimaginative. So different to the Doctor, thought Dan which just went to show that in some ways the all-powerful Timelords were not that different from people of earth. Be that as it may, Trevor's next move came as a shock.

Trevor whipped out an Andromeda. This was a typical type of Timelord blaster, a reliable one, used by the militia and usually very dangerous. He pointed it at Susan saying, 'I'm sorry but I have no choice to eliminate you!' Susan and Dan stared in amaze. But he didn't fire instantly. His hands shock and he was sweating as though he was wrestling with his own conscience. Susan looked at him and spoke calmly, 'Now look, do you really want to do this? This is murder you know!' But Trevor did not put the blaster down. Time seemed to stand still as he looked at Susan seeming as though he would shot at any moment. Dan tried to intervene, but Trevor did shot at him, missing Dan but causing him to back away. But as Trevor hesitated, Susan moved quickly, knocking the blaster out of his hand. She then caught it herself and pointed it at Trevor.

Susan was not often angry, but then now she did have cause to be. 'Tell me a good reason as to why I shouldn't use this!' she screamed at the man. Trevor made no reply. He kept quite still as though accepting his fate.

'I'm sorry, I didn't want to kill you. I was told I would only get your one generation life. You would easily regenerate. My boss just wanted to keep you quiet for a while.

Susan sighed. 'This is a first-grade Andromeda. On full power. Shooting that thing at me would make me dead. Properly. With no further re-generations. Anyway, think about it! What good would just killing one generation of mine, which is a bad thing to do anyway, would have done your masters? I would have been just as much of a threat to them in a further generation as I would have been with this one. You know, I think I should just kill you for been an idiot!' she shrieked.

'Oh, I didn't think of that,' said Trevor looking even more miserable.

It was now Susan's turn to hesitate. 'On the other hand, though I am cooling off now and I don't wish to kill someone in cold blood. But then again, some revenge could be necessary. You could do it again! Oh, I don't know I think I need a second opinion and quick. Trevor, yours will have to do. It would be justice to kill this man outright now. But should I? What do you think?' she turned around seeking advice from the astonished Dan who didn't expect to be asked for advice.

But the boy took a moment to think about it. 'Well, yes he did commit a heinous act. If you did blast him, no-one would blame you and it would be your right. On the other hand he did say something about having information about Autons in the timevaults. It might be wise to listen to him. And somehow I don't think that the Doctor would approve of a needless cold-blooded execution. I suggest we give him to the militia!'

Susan agreed and bounded Trevor for safety. Then she called the Castallin and he took Trevor away for questioning. Before he went, Castallin said to Susan, 'You are fine for the attack against that Nestene? You said you would volunteer to come, we could use you. The Doctor is away at the moment, he's sitting this one out isn't he? He does seem a bit skeptical about our attack, but then what else are we supposed to do? We can't have an alien controlling an army of dummies in this world!' Susan nodded her agreement.

Dan was still been kept busy, but Martha was taken part in the assault. Though she was nervous about re-visiting the place were even the Doctor had been forced into a retreat by the Nestene which she was one of the few people to have actually seen. She was on a patrol boat that was travelling across the water of the lake to the cave where the Nestene dwelt. There was a splash in the water from an Auton which had spotted them from the shore. The Nestenes were aware of their coming!

It was a dull and cloudy day, Martha had dried off since her last swim but was now wearing gear she could swim easily in. The boat was metal and traveling at quite a speed across the lake. Martha could see the rocky caves were the Nestene had dwelt. This time she was traveling with a large group of crack, well-armed Timelord troops so in theory anyway she had plenty of protection. But she did remember that those Autons were tough creatures, a fact witnessed by the struggle taken place on the shore. And now they were behind Auton lines!

But here fellow crew members were quite confident. This was a boat of cruiser size, well-armed and protected. There was a squad of Timelord soldiers with the crew on board. They were all checking their guns, looking around, exercising, making jokes and sounding very confident. Certainly not scared or nervous. Their Lieutenant raised a large and heavy blasters in the air some more rifle-like than an Andrommeda,and said, 'Don't worry miss! We can take on anything. This thing will wish it had never heard of Gallifrey by the time we have finished with it!'

But Martha was still apprehensive. She heard more explosions and some shooting from the shore. The militia were moving in on land as well. There was a wide area around the lake cordoned off from the general public for the attack. As the boat moved forward she was strangely concerned about. It was the heating control of the boat. A large plastic rectangular device. She could have sworn it had moved and not with the ship. She was about to mention this to Susan who was with her. But Susan was up on deck. Up on deck was within range of the Auton blasters so not the safest place to be. but Martha just had an instinct and moved up. She also remembered the Doctor's statement about plastic and she had traveled with the Doctor long enough to listen to him.

It was a good thing she did. Inside the boat there was a bang and an explosion. The heating device had come off. As with a lot of other plastic things! Material shot out of the walls, the pipes moved and threw themselves at the militia, even the windows were made of plastic and came away in large bits. To make matters worse, one of the militia turned out to be an Auton in disguise and fired at the others. Chocking methane gas from one of the pipes filled the boat lower deck...

The Doctor, meantime, was taken a look in the command building were Susan had worked. He was looking at some strange data about activity in the Orion sector. Timelord activity. This was been kept very secret. He wondered if the CIA was doing something a bit dodgy. He would have to ask Romana next time they met. His mobile phone was on the table behind him. But something odd was happening to the plastic device. It seemed to switch itself on and its receiving antennae's waved as though they were alive. Two of them, small ones, circled around and hardened like claws. It moved itself upright and crawled like a plastic crab. The Doctor heard this, and turned around. The device moved and leapt to his face. It attached itself onto the Doctor's face like glue and try with all of his considerable Timelord strength, the Doctor could not dislodge it. The Doctor writhed and fell to the floor with his hands on the creature which was under the control of a Nestene signal. It was only a facsimile phone! The claws scratched at the Doctor's skin. It was starting to inject deadly poison into the Doctor...


	4. Chapter 4

Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion of Gallifrey, final part

The final part of this Dr Who fanfic set on Gallifrey, which we assume for this tale hasn't been destroyed! This chapter will deal with the final attack by the Nestene and the conclusion of the tale. Please read and review, thanks, Ham.

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The Doctor's life was saved by pure chance. The Castallin was hearing reports of strange activity with the Autons and decided that he needed the Doctor's advice. He found the Doctor laying face down with the Nestene's device upon his face. The Castallin's eyes widened with horror and he aided the Doctor and between the two of them they praised the thing of the Doctor's face and threw it onto the floor were it was disabled with many blaster bolts from an Andromeda. The Doctor took a long look at the Castallin not too dissimilar to the way Oliver Hardy used to look at Stan Laurel! 'Thanks very much!' he slowly said with only a hint of irony. 'Stay connected indeed! That'll be the last time I use one of those things for a while!' He considered saying, 'That's another fine mess you've got me into!' but decided against it!

In the meantime, Martha had managed to move herself onto the top of the boat, but she saw from the river an Auton emerge and climb aboard. She took one of the rifles which the unit possessed, not an Andromeda, but a more powerful and dangerous Edinburgh. She could appreciate the power in the things. She fired it with enough force at the Auton to chop any human or Timelord in half. Unfortunately for her, her enemy was not human.

'So how do you stop it then?' she thought. Fortunately the soldiers were now starting to get the boat under control. They had dealt with the facsimile and now several came up deck and all fired at the Auton. Under such an intense assault, even the Auton was sent flying back into the water. Still it took everyone's attention including Martha to stop the craft from sinking in the lake. And it was in no condition to fight. They could only limp in humilation back to the shore were they had started from.

In fact, humiliation was a good word to describe how the Timelord attack on the Nestene had gotten on. The Gallifrey military was forced to retreat further from the Nestene rather than getting to it. The facsimiles were causing some chaos in important Gallifrey institutions. Various plastic devices had gone of in the area adding to the chaos. There was some considerable panic in the Gallifrey Government about the situation. An emergency meeting of Cobra, the Timelord security council was called with the Doctor's presence.

The Doctor wasn't happy. He had decided that he needed to give everyone a good ticking off. 'Now, then, what did I say?' he said loudly though he wasn't shouting. 'Anything plastic. Anything at all. How many more times must I tell you this? Yet you like to ignore my advice. You should be more like Martha, at least listened to me! And now we see the consequences. At least now you are beginning to see the gravity of our situation. What we are going to do now is something of a puzzle. We will need all of your forces to deal with the Autons on the ground, but the real problem is the Nestene, not now Dan!' he snapped angrily at his assistant.

'Be like that then!' thought Dan and stormed of in a teenage sulk! He was only nineteen!

'The only thing we have which could harm it is a Nuclear device, even then we need a good many. It could have a knock on effect of destroying much of Gallifrey as well. We would have to be very desperate to use that! And we have a problem with our Nuclear facility. One of the commanders there gave an order to fire a missile at a civilian target! It was fortunate that everyone else had a bit of common sense and realized there was something wrong with him. They thought he was having a nervous breakdown, but it turned out he was a facsimile. Though it was only thanks to the information of our informer that we knew of a committee of managers that were facsimiles. together, they could have been fatal. But still, I don't think we can even guarantee that!'

The Doctor looked around. He took a sip of water. Then he got up again to speak. He turned to look at the Castallin. 'Fair enough, Castallin,' replied the Doctor. 'Though I have a feeling. I have a feeling that Nestene is planning something big and soon. Perhaps I can get my sonic screwdriver working again. Upgrade it maybe. The problem is that even I don't really know how to deal with the Nestene itself. Maybe...'

Back in the Tardis, Dan was still feeling frustrated and a bit lonely. He had been looking at the Doctor's old adventures and had thought that he had found something. At least, something that seemed logical to him, but he felt there was probably some silly mistake that he hadn't noticed. He would mention it to the Doctor if the Timelord would ever get around to taking notice of him. Ah, think of the devil! He just then saw the Doctor approach the Tardis. 'He finished that meeting quick, must have gotten bored,' thought Dan.

But there was something odd about the Doctor. His movement was unnaturally clumsy, bashed into the table, looked in a slow and strange way at the Tardis and hammered on the door, calling for Dan. Dan might have thought that the Doctor was drunk, but the Doctor rarely touched alcohol, a little ginger beer at the most, and certainly not in the middle of an adventure. Also, the Doctor was demanding Dan to open the Tardis door, 'So what happened to his key,' thought Dan. Dan's suspicions grew when with a look, he noticed that the Doctor's hands were perfectly formed with no fingernails. Dan had heard of the facsimiles and had encountered them before on other adventures with the Doctor so was not fooled by this one!

Dan did open the Tardis's door. 'Yes?' he asked slowly.

'Dan, come out to me, nowwwwww,' said the Doctor sounding very un-Doctor like!

'I don't think so, you're not yourself, why don't you come and get me?' said Dan sweetly.

This Doctor tried to, but Dan had switched on the Tardis's defence forcefield. If this was the Doctor, the Doctor could easily disable it. But as it wasn't the creature was halted by the electric defence. Dan watched as it's hand fell away to reveal a gun-shaped blaster from which it fired a bolt of fire at Dan, but Dan was capable of dodging away. The creature was standing right in the doorway of the Tardis. 'Actually, I can't resist this!' thought Dan and closed the door upon it. Dan sat and watched it struggle in electric sparks trapped in the doorway.

It was now that the real Doctor returned. 'Ah, Dan, perhaps I was a bit harsh,' he was about to say when he saw what was happening. Just as he approached the creature, the Tardis's door slammed shut and it was cut in half. 'That was strange, almost like seeing myself killed!' he thought then used his Tardis key to enter. 'Ah, Dan,' said he as Dan switched of the forcefield. 'You said that you might have found something.' Dan looked a bit unsure, 'Come on, you might as well tell me!'

'Oh, well, all right, though it's probably nothing.' said Dan, 'But I did find an adventure of yours. A very old one. But it did feature the Autons on Earth. Anyway, this is the one occasion were I actually found you using something against the Nestene itself. Some kind of machine which destroyed it. Well why can't you use the same thing here?' Dan waited expecting the Doctor to make a logical explanation which Dan should have seen as to why the device could not have been used.

But the Doctor took a look at an illustration of the device which Dan was talking about. 'Did the narrator of the tale give any clue as to how the device was designed?'

'Ah, not really, I don't even know it's name so I can't even look it up!'

'Hmmmm, in the Tardis there is or was a record of every useful weapon I ever came across or even others have come across. Lets us look in and see if we can find something it looks like.' The Doctor opened another portal and looked across at, for Dan anyway, a bewildering amount of information. He did come across a picture which Dan thought looked something like the illustration of the device but the Doctor laughed, 'It's not this thing. This is for use on high-gravity planets, not Earth, that much I do know. Oh, yes, here we are a Phusiasion. I'd never have thought of one of those! But looking at it that's logical. It can absorb the electrons of the Nestene shield then inject power to its mind to reverse the brainwaves polarity. That could be deadly. Still, it will take a lot of power. Says here that those things were mostly used in the eastern rim wars of the Cratacious era. Long ago and far away. But we have everything we need to create one here.'

'Will it take long to get all of the parts?' asked Dan.

'Shouldn't do. I'll get the Castallin onto it. We will have to be quick I think the Nestene assault plans are gathering pace.'

It did take a few days to produce the machine, though the Doctor was very pleased to have a concrete plan to work to. The Doctor was also very careful not to use anything remotely plastic so a form of flexible metal with ropes was used to hold the thing together. It also took a lot of energy and it took a while to fill it up. But the Doctor could work quick and without sleep and in a few days a rather strange thing was made. It looked a little like a hoover under a rucksack, Dan thought to his amusement, but it did looked liked it packed a lot of power. The Doctor had also fixed his sonic screwdriver in the same time.

The Doctor made some rough plans for an expedition to the Nestene. It involved himself, his two companions and Susan as she was the best person around to help. But whilst finalising details with the Castallin, he heard something interesting if not a bit distressing. There were reports of activity around the Timevaults. Whilst discussing this over the table, Susan had a brainwave. 'That's what the Nestene is after. Access to time. The Timevaults. The one thing which Gallifrey has that no other planet does.'

'Hmmm,' replied the Doctor. 'Well I can't say the answer to that one wasn't staring at us the whole time. Well done. That would be a bad blow for the Galaxy, a Nestene controlled Timevault. Castallin, can you give extra defences to them?'

'Won't be easy, you keep on making demands of us! But if you are right as to the stragetic importance we can!'

'We have traced were the Nestene has come from, finally. The Orion nebula. I'm almost surprised we didn't encounter them. That was were we had an expedition to.' said Susan

'What were you doing in Orion? This doesn't sound like the famous Gallifrey non-intervention policy!' asked Dan.

'Not really.' The Doctor knew he wouldn't like it but he had to ask. 'So what were you doing in Orion?'

'Really, Doctor, I didn't think that you of all people would be so naive to be totally taken in by the non-intervention propaganda,' chuckled the Castallin. 'Naturally we do sometimes have to take action and we were in this case. It was a prime source of Chryisil, a material important for our time travelling. We don't want to be too dependent upon one source for this. So we took some action to stabilize the region by supporting the Orion Council,' The Castallin smiled and stopped speaking checking information on his mobile.

'The Orion council, I've heard of them, they are very repressive to their neighbouring species,' says Martha, frowning.

'We can't help, that, we can't do everything,' smiled the Castallin.

The Doctor groaned. 'Looks like the policies of Borussa are alive and well! But you do need to be careful. By doing this, you've attracted the attention of the Nestenes. You know, the hypocrisy of the Timelords will one day catch up with them. But still, this doesn't distract from the current situation. If everyone is ready, I think we will plan our move for tomorrow morning!' Everyone agreed and the main part of the meeting was abandoned. Everyone dispersed for the evening.

The unfortunate Trevor awoke very early the next morning. He tended to do so in jail. He was feeling very wretched. Guilt-ridden at his assassination attempt on Susan, scared at the prospect of life in a Timelord prison and wondering what to do, he didn't sleep easy. He arose from the hard bed in his cell and sighed and held his head in his hands. He wouldn't be going back to sleep again for a while. Then he heard a noise. Was it one of the guards? But it was a strange time to check for the prisoners. The door to his cell opened. It was his boss! But before Trevor could speak a word, his boss held out his hand in a strange manner which detached, leaving a round cylinder shape in it's place. Trevor looked on in unbelieving terror as a blast of heat from it entered his chest, and then he felt no more.

This signaled the start of the next wave of the Auton assault on Gallifrey. The circle of Gallifrey militia outside the area of the Nestene were attacked by a wave of deadly walking plastic Autons which fired blasts of ray-gun fire at them. These were an upgrade of the previous Autons that had been encountered and even harder to destroy. The militia began to have a hard time of it. They retreated slowly firing at the Autons as they backed away. In the Timevaults, more Autons emerged, walking across the corridors towards the vents of the Timestream. They littered the floor of dead militia who had tried to stop them.

The Doctor looked at the device which he had made and sighed at the reports he was getting of the Auton attacks. 'Pretty much as I expected, if only we just had a little more time!' he sighed. He checked the charge of the device, well, everything was as good to go as it ever would be, so now was the time to proceed. Accompanying him would be Susan, Dan and Martha. The device was cumbersome and as Dan had commented looked quite like a hoover and would need several people to manoeuvre.

'If youre attack fails, couldn't we try again with another one of those things?' asked the Castallin.

'Maybe, but it will get progressively harder, the Nestene will work out a defence against it, surprise is the main factor. Also, as you noticed it does pack a lot of power. In one of these things is enough power to run a small city on an average planet, so I wouldn't fiddle with it Dan,' said the Doctor rapping at Dan's knuckles as the kid was idlly fiddling with one of the bolts on the device. The Doctor had, much to Martha's amazement, taken of his trademark shirt and tie and was wearing jeans and grey tea-shirt in preparation for some tough action.

'Good luck, then Doctor,' said the Castallin as they departed on a truck.

The four had to leave the truck fairly soon, too soon for Dan, and they walked under cover to one of the entrances to the caves. They had to duck down quickly to avoid been seen. A patrol of Autons walked passed them in the tunnels. A pair of Autons blocked the way. Dan ducked quickly behind a rock to avoid been blasted, and the 4 of them destroyed the pair with Andromeda's. Dan could see a light in the caves and a clearing were the Nestene was.

But on the way to it, Dan passed a line of Autons. Quite a few. Far more than they could handle, had the plastic automatons been operating. But at the moment they were as still as statues, not quite yet created. There were quite a few of them and they looked like been potentially very dangerous once fully made. Dan was thinking that the future looked bad for Gallifrey! But they passed them quickly with their rather eery not alive eyes looking at them.

To a clearing in the caves. To where dwelt a strange and terrible creature. The Nestene. Dan had the same thoughts as Martha that the creature looked like a plastic version of a Martian from one of the old fifties sci-fi fantasies. With plastic, bright, rubbery skin, many tentacles and a blaring eye out of the middle of it's bear-sized body. To add to it's fierce look electricity from a forcefield crackled with bright sparks around it. Dan had not liked the Autons that had invaded Gallifrey, but this creature looked many times as scary and he approached with some caution.

For the moment it was on it's own, not expecting an attack on it's very person. But still getting to it wasn't easy. The Doctor was wearing the device they were going to use like a hoover on his back, but it took at least 3 people to carry it. As they approached the Nestene, it flailed it's arms at them with quick speed, nearly knocking Dan's head of. The Doctor was trying to hold onto it steady and penetrate the Nestene's forcefield. At the same time, the forcefield itself was perilous to touch, giving out an electric shock to any human skin. The Nestene screamed an alien scream. In using all his dexterity not to be swiped or electrocuted, Dan was strangely reminded of a gameshow he used to watch sometimes on an early Saturday evening, though it obviously wasn't as dangerous as this situation.

The Nestene was giving a mighty struggle, wriggling, flaing it's tentacles, pushing. Dan and Martha could not get a hold and retreated out of the way of the tentacles. Only the Doctor and Susan managed to operate the device whilst the Doctor tried to connect the thing to the forcefield. Now some of the Autons were coming to the aid of their Master. Martha had the Doctor's now working again Sonic Screwdriver and Dan had an Andromeda though he scarcely knew how to use one. 'Lets leave them to the creature, we will try to hold of the Autons,' suggested Martha.

Now the Doctor managed to hold the device's head to the forcefield, deactivating the forcefield. Then he jumped onto the Nestene clinging onto it's slippery, snakelike plastic skin. The creature rolled up and down and all over like a bucking bronco. Now Susan fell off with a shriek, leaving the Doctor on his own. He used all his considerable dexterity to climb up the Nestene to a crack in the back of it's stubby, plastic, head. He touched the front of the device a bit like a hoover's sucker to the Nestene's head than, holding on with all of his strength pushed it in...

In the Timevaults, the Autons were now in control of the outer building. The defending militia had suffered many casualties and were now crouched down behind barricades as the plastic Autons slowly advanced. In the woods outside the lakes, the militia were surrounded by the deadly Autons. They were down by two-thirds and were only grimly hanging on as the Autons made a final assault. Even in the Nuclear facility, the Timelords were forced to retreat. Like many of the local important institutions it was virtually under the control of Autons. Martha and Dan had managed to stop a few Autons. But now many had entered the chamber. They both had to duck down behind caves. A raybolt shot Dan's Andromeda out of his hand.

Then the Nestene screamed a terrible scream. It reared over and over flinging the Doctor off. Then it rolled over, the lights of it's eye went out it's tentacles collapsed on it's lifeless body. The creature was dead. The Doctor was totally exhausted and he looked up at the Autons as he lay on his back on the floor. But without the Nestene to keep them in operation, the Autons could not work by themselves. In a matter of moments the Autons collapsed to the ground. All over Gallifrey the Autons collapsed in a similar manner. Martha and Dan looked at those on the floor ahead of them. Without the Nestene's signal, the Autons themselves, who were only an extension of it's will anyway, could not move.

Victory it was and the Nestene threat was over. None of the Autons, Facemilles, or any of the plastic devices under the Nestene's control were capable of been a threat any more. One more meeting of Cobra was held. The Castallin said to all present, 'It was bad, but it could have been a lot worse. More of the Timelords killed were able to simply re-generate, though some were killed outright. But had the attack continued we would have been in serious trouble. A good thing the Doctor stopped the creature when it did,'

'The situation in the Timevaults was worrying in particular. The attack was so intense that we nearly lost control of the spectrum gateways. We don't know for sure yet, but we have signs that the creature was calling out messages for help. We do know that many dangerous things are out in the Timevaults. That's why we have so much of our most advanced technology protecting them.' Romana was correct, there were messages of help from the Nestene. It was only a matter of terrible speculation as to what allies it might have been calling!

The Doctor was at the meeting. 'I hope these events cause you to think when you embark on foreign adventures!'

But not everyone agreed with him, those with power in Gallifrey certainly did not. Romana was also there in full Cabinet dress. 'Well, I'm not sure we really can totally reverse our policies of all of these years. Even if we wanted to. We do have to intevene a bit, you know!'

The Doctor sighed. He looked at his former companion with a little disappointment. 'To be honest, when you left me, I had hoped you might be doing something a bit better than dirty political wheeling and dealing. And carrying on Borussa's legacy. He might be long departed from Gallifrey, but his ideas certainly are not it seems. I think if you are going to have foreign adventures you would be better to be honest and maybe a bit just in undertaking them, not to mention transparent.''

Romana was a bit put out by this statement. She hit back in kind. 'Well, at least I don't spend my entire time on some woe-begitten planet whose species frankly wouldn't be missed by the Galaxy if it was wiped out, and actually missing mostly the one time when it possibly did make a contribution to the Galaxy in it's later ages. You spend all of its time in the species dark ages, I have wondered why. Still I suppose you like it!' The Doctor and Romana would not see eye to eye about their respective lifestyles.

Later back in the Tardis, Dan did have a question. 'These Timelords of yours they do seem a disperse bunch. But are they good or bad?'

'Quite a good question,' chuckled the Doctor. 'I have also wondered the same thing. I suppose that there could be worse people in charge of Time travel, I shouldn't be too judgmental. Perhaps I could say the same thing about your people. Fundamentally I would say that you are good. Yet what do people think of the politicians in charge of the world? A bunch of wotsits.' Last time they had visited Earth, the politicians were held in their normal low esteem by the general population even those in a democracy and Dan and Martha thought the Doctor was been generous! 'Still, there must be a reason as to why I don't come back here that often!'

The Doctor turned a switch and as Susan watched outside, the Tardis made a sound of a trumpeting elephants and disappeared on its way.

The End


End file.
